Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman are in the early stages of production on Hellboy 3.

The Mexican-born director and the 62-year-old actor who played the comic book character in the first two movies in the franchise are keen to return to Revolution Studios – the studio behind the first two films – to create a sequel to the 2008 movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

The Hellboy series, based on the Dark Horse Comics work Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola, were notable successes at the box office despite the film’s comparatively idiosyncratic production values; del Toro used barely any CGI in either film.

Released in the spring of 2004, the first Hellboy film grossed $59 million at the United States box office, and $99 million worldwide, while Hellboy II: The Golden Army made over $160 million at the box office, with a budget of $80 million.

Guillermo del Toro told Entertainment Weekly: “I can say publicly that now we are together in trying to do Hellboy 3.”

Ron Pearlman said: “The first two movies were really set up to have this unbelievable resolve. Everything that was done in both movies was leading up to this destiny, written in stone, of what Hellboy has been summoned to Earth to do.

“To not do it, particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be in my mind a little bit of a shame.”

Pearlman and del Toro are also collaborating on the science-fiction film ‘Pacific Rim’, which sees humans deploy giant robots to take on an alien attack threatening Earth’s existence. The film is due in cinemas early 2013.